‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ actress Cheng Pei-pei dies

Actress and martial arts star Cheng Pei-pei has died at the age of 78.

Her family wrote on Facebook that she died at home after being diagnosed with an illness with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease, ABC News reported.

She passed away in the San Francisco Bay Area, Variety reported.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce that the rumors are true. Our mother, Cheng Pei Pei, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her loved ones on July 17,” they wrote on Friday.

The illness was corticobasal degeneration. It is progressive and causes the brain cells to become damaged over time, affecting movement, speech, memory and swallowing. There is no treatment to stop the progression, CNN reported.

She was diagnosed with the condition in 2019, according to Variety.

Cheng was born in Shanghai and trained in ballet in China before she moved to Hong Kong in her teens.

She started taking classes at a performing arts training course at Shaw Brothers Studio, appearing in “The Last Woman of Shang” and “Lover’s Rock” but her breakthrough was in “Come Drink with Me,” where her martial arts skills were in the spotlight.

She married and moved to the U.S. in 1971 but moved back to Hong Kong in the 1990s, CNN reported.

Cheng became internationally known in her role in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” playing villain Jade Fox. The film won four Oscars and earned $128 million at the North American box office, Variety reported.

Her family called her the “Queen of Martial Arts ... a versatile, award-winning actress whose film and television career spanned over six decades, not only in Asia but internationally as well.”

Her last role was as the matchmaker in the live-action remake of “Mulan” in 2020, according to her IMDB biography.

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